Page 28 of Duke in Darkness

It had been a very educational meeting, but now his mind had absorbed enough unfamiliar information for one day. The only thing he wanted to do was bed Lilian.

“Thank you for coming here, Fairlie. We won’t take up any more of your time. But if possible, we would like to…see you again tomorrow. To discuss the accounts.”

A significant look passed between him and the steward, and Fairlie stood and bowed. “As you wish, sir. My wife knows I’ll be spending another day in London. I’d best take her a gift though. The funniest thing, she is the most practical woman on God’s green earth, but her pretty head can always be turned by figurines. They are her not-so-secret vice, especially the strange ones with dancing foxes and cats wearing bonnets and whatnot. I don’t understand it, but a new figurine is often the way to wriggle back into her good graces.”

Unexpectedly, Lilian laughed. “It sounds like you know Mrs. Fairlie well. And you still call her pretty. That is lovely.”

Fairlie shrugged. “We’ve been wed thirty-five years, and in my eyes, she’ll always be.”

His wife bit her lip and looked away, then she turned back to the steward. “I look forward to meeting her. Exton and I may well tour the estates come summer. I would certainly enjoy seeing your good work firsthand.”

“It would be our pleasure to host you, Your Grace. Until tomorrow, then. Good evening to you both.”

After Fairlie left the room, Lilian shifted and resettled herself in her chair several times. Finally, she said, “How do you think that went, Exton? I thought, ah, quite satisfactory.”

“You were magnificent,” Gabriel said simply.

She stood up, then spent an inordinate amount of time shaking out her gown and smoothing the pleats. “Well, ah, I do very much appreciate the opportunity to learn. It’s all so interesting. Grandmother would have palpitations if she knew how many questions I asked, though. She thinks my inquisitiveness is vulgar.”

Gabriel stood and flexed his foot, before moving around his desk to stand in front of her. Deliberately close. “I don’t agree. If you wish to join us again, you may.”

Her cheeks went pink. “I would love to.”

“And I would love to do this.”

Leaning down as though to politely kiss her right cheek, Gabriel instead moved past and pressed his mouth to that sweet spot where her neck met her shoulder, kissing her there.

“E-Exton,” she said, her breath catching.

“Hmmm?” he replied, shifting his head so he could attend to the other side of her neck. But this time rather than a brief kiss, he grasped her upper arms to hold her still, and gently scraped his teeth across her silken flesh before flicking it with his tongue, once, twice, three times.

Lilian quivered, and he wanted to growl in triumph when her nipples visibly peaked against the much tighter bodice of her gown.

“This is not p-proper,” she said, even as she tilted her neck for more.

“Not proper to kiss my wife?” Gabriel murmured, nipping her flesh and making her gasp.

“We’re in your l-library! And I thought that since you already, um, attended to your m-manly needs today, you wouldn’t want to, ah…”

As her voice trailed off, he frowned in confusion. “I did what?”

She leaned back, her cheeks scarlet. “Your appointment.”

Clarity hit him like a bolt of lightning. While he’d been getting rained on, mocked by a green stripling, escorted from a jeweler, and shoved into horseshit, his wife thought he’d been fucking another woman.

“Lilian,” he said slowly, so he could be as clear as possible. “I don’t have a mistress.”

“You don’t?”

The relief in her eyes and brightening of her smile kindled an answering warmth inside him, enough to drag the embarrassing tale from his lips. “Today I went out…to that jeweler. Rundell…”

“Rundell, Bridge and Rundell? I know it well. Mr. Philip Rundell is always so kind.”

Gabriel shook his head. “Unfortunately not him. A young assistant. Short. Brown hair in a queue. Never been outside. Soft hands. He…”

Lilian’s brow furrowed. “He what? What happened, Exton?”

“The assistant didn’t know me,” he said eventually. “Thought I was poor. Drunk. Or needing a nursemaid. I got…escorted from the building.”